Pvt. Charlotte Harris

In 1943 artist Francis V. Kughler, Hudson River Museum Director H. Armour Smith and Women’s Army Corps recruiter Joanne Coates conceived a plan to encourage women of Yonkers to enlist in the army and honor their contribution. Every Yonkers woman who joined the WACs would have her portrait made in oil or pastel by Kughler.

Prior to enlisting, Charlotte Harris, like Abigaile Halley, was with Otis Elevator Company for three years. Not quite “Rosie the Riveter,” she worked in the offices. She lived uphill from the Hudson River Museum on Amackassin Terrace.

Harris met her future husband, Sgt. Cletus Cauthen of the Army Air Forces, when they were both stationed at Shaw Field in Sumter, South Carolina. They were married at the Warburton Avenue Baptist Church in 1947.